Improvement Program has 

 sought the answers to 

 increasing productivity of 

 forest lands through genetic 

 manipulation of several 

 species of trees. The main 

 emphasis, since the start of 

 the project in 1956, has 

 been on loblolly pine. 



The Cooperative Forest 

 Genetics Research 

 Program, University of 

 Florida, has emphasized 

 work with slash pine while 

 the Western Gulf Tree 

 Improvement Program, 

 Texas A&M University, has 

 worked with both loblolly 

 and slash pine west of the 

 Mississippi River. 



Illustrative of the impact of 

 the North Carolina State 

 University project is the 

 production of cones, seeds, 

 and seedlings from loblolly 

 pine seed in cooperators' 

 orchards during the last 8 

 years, shown in table 1 . 

 The cone and seed yield 

 shown includes 5,122 

 bushels and 6,321 pounds 

 of second-generation 

 material. In the 3 years 

 1982, 1983, and 1984, 

 second-generation 

 orchards produced enough 

 seed to grow 72 million 

 seedlings and regenerate 

 slightly over 100,000 acres 

 of land. These 

 second-generation 

 orchards will experience 

 rapid increases in 



production in the next few 

 years. This should permit 

 first-generation orchards to 

 be heavily rogued, thereby 

 concentrating efforts on the 

 better performers, 

 particularly since 

 first-generation breeding 

 efforts were complete as of 

 1 983 and progeny test 

 information is well enough 

 along to allow orchards to 

 be brought to their final 

 genetic composition. 



Some organizations now 

 have enough seed in 

 storage to meet their 

 planting needs for several 

 years. With minimal efforts, 

 industry and State forestry 

 commissions should now 

 be approaching the ability 

 to provide all customers' 

 planting needs with 

 genetically improved stock. 



Final crop gains on 25-year 

 rotations from one 

 generation of loblolly pine 

 tree improvement are 

 estimated to be as high as 

 7 percent in height, 12 

 percent in cubic volume, 

 and 32 percent in harvest 

 value (Talbert and other 

 1984). 



There were 1 1 charter 

 members when this 

 cooperative effort started. 

 Today, there are 29 

 members, including 24 

 industry members, 4 State 

 forestry organizations, and 



29 



